Her stomach flipped.
Whowasthis guy? Jannie looked up at him in stupefaction. “I’m sorry, I don’t …” She stopped short, thinking it rude to tell him she had no idea who he was. Had she laid eyes on him before, this fine specimen of a human male would surely have stayed in her memory forever.
His full lips curved into a wan smile. “You don’t remember me but I most definitely remember you.”
He paused. She waited. Still no idea who he might be.
“We went to high school together.” His smile turned into a smirk. “I’m Nick Kent.”
No way.
“Nick Kent,” Jannie repeated. “You. Are Nicholas Kent.”
He chuckled, clearly amused by the shocked expression Jannie couldn’t hide. This gorgeous man, whose looks and presence could instantly ensnare any woman, wasNicholas Kent?
She remembered the tall, thin boy with braces and a face perpetually full of painful-looking acne. The guys called him Pustule. To his face. The girls wrinkled their noses and sidestepped him in the hallways, snickering and rolling their eyes behind his scrawny back.
Studious, quiet, and with impeccable manners, he had held doors for her, smiled, and said hello. He made pocket money by tutoring andseemed to have all the answers in class, another reason the jocks had it in for him. Nick absorbed knowledge like a sponge. What was difficult for others was effortless for him, undoubtedly making the guys feel intellectually inferior.
“Wow,” she said. What she really wanted to say was, “Damn.”
His lips twitched. Wordlessly, he motioned toward the seat across from hers.
Jannie smiled. “Have a seat.”
He lowered himself into the armchair with a fluid grace she didn’t remember him possessing. Of course, given his current fitness level, there was something to be said for muscular control.
“I look a little different from the last time you saw me.”
Understatement of the century.“What have you—”
His phone buzzed, and he hesitated for a second, then picked it up with an apologetic smile. “Forgive me. I have to answer this text.”
Jannie nodded. She relaxed but only a little. Her eyes refused to leave his large hands as his fingers flew over the screen. Long fingers, nails clipped so short they showed no white at all. Certain parts of her began to tingle. She had a thing for hands, and his were …
A server appeared, and Jannie asked for a refill of her ice water, which she thought she might have to dump all over herself.
“And for you, sir? Anything to drink?” the young woman asked.
Nick held up one long finger and finished typing before turning the full force of his dark-eyed stare on her. “Water for me, too. And a cup of coffee, black. Thanks.”
The server gulped and licked her lips. “Yes, sir.”
Flushing, she hurried away, casting him a furtive glance over her shoulder.
She feels it too.
Jannie didn’t blame the girl; Nick radiated power and the promise of raw jungle sex. Given her situation, Jannie shouldn’t have been panting like a horny teenager. But pregnancy, for her, had resulted in a sky-high sex drive; being riled up by Blake, plus hormones, plus this man, stoked a fire that quickly approached five-alarm.
Unreal. If she could time-travel and tell her high school self just whowas causing her to go into lustful tachycardia, tween Jannie Larssen would bust a gut laughing.
No sooner had Nick finished texting than his phone rang. He glanced at the screen. Annoyance filled his face, and he surged to his feet. “Excuse me. Again.”
“Of course.” Jannie watched him head in long-legged strides toward a less crowded spot by the floor-to-ceiling window. Broad back tapering to narrow hips, and a delectable, muscular ass.
He half-turned. She could practically see the energy radiating from him as he glowered, extremely displeased with whoever had called. Sunlight streamed in, highlighting copper in his dark hair.
The image of young Nick, as he was then, persisted as Jannie observed him in fascination. He would sit in the back corner with a little smirk on his lips as if high school were a joke, and he was only there to observe everyone else’s struggles.
